How to spot fake Colourpop liquid lipsticks

‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is’

I didn’t know there were fake liquid lipsticks. I mean some liquid lipsticks are dead cheap so why would you want to imitate them? Then I thought why wouldn’t there be? If there was no market for fake products, they wouldn’t be produced, would they? People are buying them.

The struggle is real in the UK because we don’t get as many brands over here, especially the ones that suit women of colour, however don’t be tempted to buy fake liquid lipsticks. If you like fake liquid lipsticks, you know the risks and still choose to use them then that’s your prerogative. Do you girl! This post is for people that intend to buy the real ones but end up with the fakes ones or are slightly tempted.

The problem with fake liquid lipsticks is that the ingredients are untested and it could be anything really. These fake liquid lipsticks are not subjected to the rigorous testing that makeup and beauty products have to go through so you basically have no idea what you are putting on your lips. Some people like to take the risk but personally I don’t think it is worth it.

You know that side eye you give your colleagues when you show up with a new hairstyle and everyone at work proceeds to give you their opinions about which hairstyle suits you the most as if you cared?! Did I ask you though?! That’s the side eye I give when I see people selling ‘authentic’ Colourpop liquid lipsticks on certain websites such as Aliexpress.

Don’t get me wrong I love Aliexpress, but for liquid lipsticks…no thanks.

To show you what I mean, I bought two ‘authentic’ Colourpop Ultra Matte liquid lipsticks from Aliexpress for $1.25 – Tulle and Limbo. Here is my comparison of these lipsticks to the real ones I have in my collection.

P.S Beware of fake liquid lipsticks on eBay as well. I made the mistake of thinking I could get an Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipstick without paying for the international shipping. I was wrong. It was fake.

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COLOURS

There wasn’t much difference between the two Tulles; the fake one versus the real one. They were virtually identical in colour. The big difference was between the two Limbos; the fake one was lighter than the real Limbo. The real Limbo was a deeper brown shade than the fake one, a lot darker.

PACKAGING

Just by looking at the packaging I couldn’t tell which one was fake and which one was real, the packaging was that good. The fake one had the holographic writing on the packaging and on the tube of the liquid lipstick, exactly the same as the real liquid lipsticks.

One thing I did notice that was different was the smell. The fake one smelt of artificial coconuts, whereas if you know Colourpop liquid lipsticks they smell like a whole load of chemicals.

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CONSISTENCY

The fake liquid lipsticks were thicker and slighty harder to spread evenly on my lips than than the real ones. The real Colourpop was runnier and easier to apply one complete coat on my lips. The fake ones had great pigmentation similar to the real Ultra Matte lippies. They were slightly tacky but dried matte.

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Like I said buying fake liquid lipsticks is taking a risk because the ingredients are untested and you don’t really know what is in the lipsticks. You don’t want to risk having an allergic reaction or a breakout to random ingredients.

If you want to buy liquid lipsticks, try to buy it from the brand’s website, ship it over yourself or from a reputable seller.

[Update]

Based on the comments below, I checked the bottom of the lipsticks and there was a clear difference.

The fake ones had different numbers from the real ones, which was quite interesting. The font size of the stickers and where the stickers were placed were inconsistent.

Now this is really enlightening. The similarities make it so difficult to spot the fake one. But like you said, fake ones expose the user to risks the real ones would not, would have to share with ladies I know.
Lifeofdammy.com

Yes definately. I was shocked on how similar the fake ones were to the real ones. Even though they look practically the same, I wouldn’t take the risk with untested ingredients.
Thanks for reading and sharing x